The Unlikely Hero
by HarvestBeauty
Summary: Larry saves Janet from a dangerous situation. Rewrite of Janet's High School Sweetheart. Janet/Larry friendship.


"Peter!" Janet tried to yell, but it came out as more of a terrified squeak. "Peter, _stop it!_"

It was no use. Her old high school friend turned attacker was using his whole body weight to pin her petite frame down into the sofa. As hard as she tried to struggle and tried to throw him off of her, she was making very little progress. When he clamped his hand over her mouth, her heart began beating even faster and her stomach did uneasy flip flops. She began struggling even harder against him, but to no avail...he had her completely overpowered.

Janet couldn't believe it. The unthinkable was happening to her and there wasn't a damned thing she could do about it. She would most likely not make it out of this situation unscathed. She had been raised in a religious household, so Janet did the only thing she could think of...she prayed. She prayed that God would somehow provide her an escape out of this mess and she prayed that He would send someone, anyone, to come and rescue her. How she wished Jack and Chrissy were here with her...there was no way this creep would be attacking her like this if they had company. Janet cursed herself for being stupid enough into wanting to be alone with Peter. She squeezed her eyes shut as tears started to blur her vision...

"_Get the hell off of her!_" A voice growled.

Janet's eyes snapped open in surprise. To her joy (and shock) she saw that her prayers for a rescuer had been answered in the form of her neighbor and friend, Larry Dallas. It was very unexpected for her, but not unwelcome. Larry had grabbed Peter from behind, yanking him up and off of her with surprising force. He then proceeded to wrap him up in a headlock in order to subdue him. As Peter struggled, his face began turning bright red. He opened his mouth in order to (presumably) cuss Larry out or to make some sort of protest, but no noises came out due to the pressure that Larry was putting on his neck and throat. Janet began to wonder if Larry was intent on choking him to death or not. Due to the look of pure rage Larry had on his face, Janet felt a little uneasy...she was grateful that Larry had gotten him off of her, but she really didn't want to witness a murder.

Thankfully, Larry began dragging a stumbling Peter over to the apartment door. He opened the door and finally released Peter from his chokehold. He roughly shoved Peter out the door with all of his strength and then slammed the door behind him, locking it afterwards for safety. Larry stood there and leaned his forehead against the door for a few seconds, taking in deep breaths in order to calm down. Janet was breathing hard as she just stared at him in wonder. After a while, Larry finally raised his head and turned to look at her. All traces of his previous fury were gone and he was looking at her as if he'd seen a ghost. Janet almost wanted to burst into laughter at the very rapid change in emotions...and speaking of mood swings, she also kind of wanted to burst into tears as well. It had been that kind of day.

"Janet, I think we should call the police." Larry finally breathed. He looked horrified.

"Oh, no. No, no, no. I'll be fine. Please don't." Janet's face blazed in shame.

Running a shaky hand through his hair, Larry walked over in order to join Janet on the couch. He sat beside her slowly and carefully, not wanting to make any sudden movements and rattle Janet further.

"Are you okay? Did he...?" Larry paused here, not daring to finish his question. Even so, Janet knew what he was asking.

"No, no...he tried to but never got the chance." Janet was quick to calm his fears. "Thanks to you."

"More like thanks to Jack and Chrissy." Larry informed her. "They called me because they were worried about you being alone with that guy, so they sent me to come and check up on you."

"Oh..." Janet's voice warbled.

"They should be here any minute. I'm going to stay right here with you until they come back." Larry told her.

Janet tearfully nodded. She was embarrassed that she had Jack, Chrissy and now Larry all worried about her. She hoped that the Ropers would never find out about any of this. In spite of her best efforts, a few tears escaped her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Janet cursed under her breath and sighed, frustrated at herself. She hated the fact that she was such an emotional person and cried so easily, although this harrowing experience warranted more than a few tears.

"Thanks for helping me..." Janet told Larry in a tiny voice, her emotion welling up in her throat. "If it wasn't for you..."

"Hey, hey...don't worry about it." Larry gently tried to comfort her. He handed her a tissue, which she gratefully accepted. She wiped at her eyes and blew her nose.

Larry watched her. He couldn't believe how shaken up she was, seeing as she was always so mature and level headed most of the time...although after what she had been through, he didn't blame her one bit. As he observed her, he could feel his own eyes welling up a bit...women crying was one of his biggest weaknesses. It always got him kind of weepy, as embarrassed as he was to admit it. He noticed that one of the sleeves of the blue outfit she was wearing had come loose and slipped down her arm during the struggle, so he gently pushed it back up to its proper place high on her shoulder. She smiled at him for the kind gesture.

"I'm going to put my arm around you, okay?" Larry only found it fair to warn her after what she'd been through.

"Go ahead..." Janet laughed. "I'm not afraid of you."

Slowly and carefully, Larry put his arm around Janet...not suggestively for once, but in a soothing manner. It was really nice. After a few seconds, Janet relaxed into his embrace. She sighed as she could finally feel the tension and fear melt from her body. She was relieved she was finally beginning to feel some sort of control over her emotions and that her shaking nerves and traumatized tears were finally starting to subside.

"You know..." Janet sniffled after a long, comfortable silence. "You're really a nice guy when you're not acting like a pig."

"Thanks, I think..." Larry huffed out a laugh. "Nice enough to let me take you out sometime?"

Janet pulled back to look at him and noticed the gentle, teasing way he was looking at her. It let her know that he was not serious in his come on's for once. She fixed him with a playful smirk of her own.

"Don't push it, Larry." She playfully scolded him.

The two friends shared a laugh over that.

THE END


End file.
